Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront

CEI-Bois has endorsed the vision and ambition of the report, made public on the 23 of September 2019. As part of the WorldGBC’s Advancing Net Zero initiative, the report has been produced as the outcome of a number of worldwide workshops and events to define the strict goals required to make the construction sector carbon neutral by 2050 and how each stakeholder in the sector must work together to achieve this. Andrew Norton from CEI-Bois was given the opportunity to present at one of the workshops and also provided edits to the report. In both cases, some misconceptions regarding the timber industry required correcting, but the overall drive of the project was seen as an excellent opportunity to showcase wood as a low-embodied-carbon resource and show how timber can provide many solutions in averting the climate emergency.The European launch of the report was also attended by Patrizio Antonicoli and Margherita Miceli and was a great opportunity to meet the authors and the influential stakeholders involved with the project.

CEI-Bois’ activities on the Taxonomy and Sustainable Investments dossier resumed in SeptemberThe European Commission Expert Group on Taxonomy published its draft report in June. The reports contain detailed criteria for determining whether an economic activity can be considered environmentally sustainable for investment purposes (more info here). CEI-Bois replied to the public consultation on the file, stating its position on the sustainability criteria for forestry and construction. For what concerns the former, CEI-Bois and other organisations also sent a letter the Directors Generals of DG FISMA (Financial services), ENV (environment), CLIMA (climate action), AGRI (agriculture), GROW (Industry) and ENER (Energy) of the European Commission.The letter explains and motivates the arguments for dissatisfaction with the current criteria on forestry of the Taxonomy Report, and suggests to use instead of the risk-based approach on the sustainability of solid biomass agreed upon in the Renewable Energy Directive II.

On the 16 of September 2019 CEI-Bois has publised a Joint Statement for an Ambitious Horizon Europe ProgrammeIn the joint statement CEI-Bois together with the other undersigned 92 European associations, representing key European research & innovation stakeholders, urge the EU Institutions to make research, development and innovation (RD&I) a priority within the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. It calls on the Council of the EU to raise the budget allocated to the Horizon Europe programme to at least €120 billion (in 2018 prices), of which at least 60% should be dedicated to the “Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness” pillar.

Welcoming European DG Grow proposal, CEI-Bois and CEPI (Paper Industry Confederation) started drafting, in November 2018, a Strategic vision and a shared common agenda across the value chain to advance the forest-based bioeconomy and address the climate change (CEI-Bois members were invited to comment/amend the document at different stages of the process)After several months of collaboration, Organizations representing public and private forest-owners, pulp and paper, wood-working and panel industry, bioenergy, academia and research, were able to issue a draft that was forwarded to DG Grow for comments, before circulating it to the F-BI expert Group, in view of its next meeting, that will take place in Brussels on the 16 of October 2019.The meeting will permit a final debate in order to gain the largest F-B sector endorsement before the strategic document to be officially and publicly presented by CEI-Bois and CEPI, next 18 of November, during the European Raw Materials Week.

The CEI-Bois Trade Working Group took place on the 19 of September 2019

On the 9 of September 2019, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has presented the new team of 26 Commissioners for the mandate 2019-2024The nominees will have to undergo hearings in the European Parliament, scheduled from the 30th of Semptember to 8th October, before receiving final approval. The new Commission will then take office on the 1st of November.The proposed Commissioners also received “mission letters” outlining the main political priorities of their mandate.The full list of Commissioners is available here.

Under the CONFAPI (Italian Confederation of Small Enterprises) coordination, CEI-Bois is actively participating in the Good Wood project, granted under the European Sectoral Social Dialogue framework.After the first operational workshop that took place in Rome at the end of May, CEI-Bois, with the support of the Portuguese member AIMMP (project affiliated partner), will organize a two days operational seminar in Porto next 17 and 18 of October, including a study visit to the Waste Valorization and Recovery Centre of the University of Minho, located in Guimarães.We remind Good Wood project aims to highlight the importance of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue platform to support the Woodworking Industry when facing social challenges of the Green Economy.

CEI-Bois attended as speaker the 2nd European Japanese Days, organized in Paris by the French Railways Group, SNCF on the 17 of September 2019An opportunity for our Confederation to meet a large delegation of Japanese architects and landscapers and exchange information on the challenges and opportunities of using wood as a building material, Japan being the perfect example of how to harmonise tradition and modernity while widely using wood in construction.

The FTP Conference: Launching the European forest-based sector’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2030 will take place on the 27 November 2019 in HelsinkiThis one-day conference, under the auspices of the Finnish EU-presidency, will gather policymakers, researchers and the European forest-based sector to discuss the challenges and priorities in view of Horizon Europe and launching the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2030 (SIRA 2030).If you wish to participate please register through the link in the Invitation.